The cognitive dysfunction of claustrum on Alzheimer’s disease: A mini-review

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases characterized by cognitive deficits and dementia. AD entails predominant pathological characteristics including amyloid beta (Aβ) plaque formation, neurofibrillary entanglements, and brain atrophy, which gradually result in cognitive dysfunctions. Studies showed that these pathological changes are found in a myriad of brain structures, including the claustrum (CLA), a nucleus that penetrates deeply into the brain and is extensively interconnected to various brain structures. The CLA modulates many aspects of cognitive functions, with attention, executive function, visuospatial ability, language, and memory in particular. It is also implicated in multiple neuropsychiatric disorders, of which one worthy of particular attention is AD-related cognitive impairments. To inspire novel AD treatment strategies, this review has summarized the CLA functionality in discriminative cognitive dysfunctions in AD. And then propose an array of potential mechanisms that might contribute to the cognitive impairments caused by an abnormal CLA physiology. We advocate that the CLA might be a new promising therapeutic target in combination with existing anti-AD drugs and brain stimulation approaches for future AD treatment.

[1]  M. Behrens,et al.  Visual-spatial processing impairment in the occipital-frontal connectivity network at early stages of Alzheimer’s disease , 2023, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

[2]  B. Bosch,et al.  Early‐onset Alzheimer's disease shows a distinct neuropsychological profile and more aggressive trajectories of cognitive decline than late‐onset , 2022, Annals of clinical and translational neurology.

[3]  H. Chainay,et al.  Decision-Making in Alzheimer's Disease: The Role of Working Memory and Executive Functions in the Iowa Gambling Task and in Tasks Inspired by Everyday Situations. , 2022, Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD.

[4]  K. Whalley.  A new direction for the claustrum? , 2021, Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

[5]  D. H. O’Connor,et al.  Neural activity in the mouse claustrum in a cross-modal sensory selection task , 2021, Neuron.

[6]  A. Venneri,et al.  Large-Scale Functional Networks, Cognition and Brain Structures Supporting Social Cognition and Theory of Mind Performance in Prodromal to Mild Alzheimer’s Disease , 2021, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

[7]  Shaoqiang Han,et al.  The Vital Role of Central Executive Network in Brain Age: Evidence From Machine Learning and Transcriptional Signatures , 2021, Frontiers in Neuroscience.

[8]  G. Aliev,et al.  The mystery of claustral neural circuits and recent updates on its role in neurodegenerative pathology , 2021, Behavioral and brain functions : BBF.

[9]  David T. Jones,et al.  Alzheimer disease , 2021, Nature Reviews Disease Primers.

[10]  Albert K Lee,et al.  The claustrum , 2020, Current Biology.

[11]  M. T. Hasan,et al.  The Claustrum is Involved in Cognitive Processes Related to the Classical Conditioning of Eyelid Responses in Behaving Rabbits , 2020, Cerebral cortex.

[12]  Michael G. White,et al.  The Mouse Claustrum Is Required for Optimal Behavioral Performance Under High Cognitive Demand , 2020, Biological Psychiatry.

[13]  C. Ávila,et al.  Locating neural transfer effects of n-back training on the central executive: a longitudinal fMRI study , 2020, Scientific Reports.

[14]  D. Kapogiannis,et al.  False Memory in Alzheimer's Disease , 2020, Behavioural neurology.

[15]  C. Bass,et al.  The Claustrum-Prefrontal Cortex Pathway Regulates Impulsive-Like Behavior , 2019, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[16]  Glenn D. R. Watson,et al.  A Role for the Claustrum in Salience Processing? , 2019, Front. Neuroanat..

[17]  Alan J. Thomas,et al.  Structural correlates of attention dysfunction in Lewy body dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: an ex-Gaussian analysis , 2019, Journal of Neurology.

[18]  N. Herrmann,et al.  Sleep and Attention in Alzheimer’s Disease , 2019, The Yale journal of biology and medicine.

[19]  I. Nelken,et al.  The Claustrum Supports Resilience to Distraction , 2018, Current Biology.

[20]  David A. Leopold,et al.  Temporal–prefrontal cortical network for discrimination of valuable objects in long-term memory , 2018, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[21]  Matthew H. Panicker,et al.  Anterior Cingulate Cortex Input to the Claustrum Is Required for Top-Down Action Control. , 2018, Cell reports.

[22]  Amandine Van Rinsveld,et al.  Mental arithmetic in the bilingual brain: Language matters , 2017, Neuropsychologia.

[23]  P. Luppi,et al.  Selective activation of a few limbic structures during paradoxical (REM) sleep by the claustrum and the supramammillary nucleus: evidence and function , 2017, Current Opinion in Neurobiology.

[24]  Keith A. Johnson,et al.  Phases of Hyperconnectivity and Hypoconnectivity in the Default Mode and Salience Networks Track with Amyloid and Tau in Clinically Normal Individuals , 2017, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[25]  A. Deutch,et al.  Cortical hierarchy governs rat claustrocortical circuit organization , 2017, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[26]  N. Matsuo,et al.  Organization of the Claustrum-to-Entorhinal Cortical Connection in Mice , 2017, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[27]  Travis P Todd,et al.  Retrosplenial cortex is required for the retrieval of remote memory for auditory cues , 2016, Learning & memory.

[28]  For the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative,et al.  Amyloid-independent functional neural correlates of episodic memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment , 2016, European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.

[29]  Dheeraj S. Roy,et al.  Memory retrieval by activating engram cells in mouse models of early Alzheimer’s disease , 2016, Nature.

[30]  Maciej M. Jankowski,et al.  Dynamics of place, boundary and object encoding in rat anterior claustrum , 2015, Front. Behav. Neurosci..

[31]  Róisín McKenna,et al.  Informing the Structure of Executive Function in Children: A Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Data , 2017, Front. Hum. Neurosci..

[32]  K. Ramasamy,et al.  Pharmacological approaches for Alzheimer’s disease: neurotransmitter as drug targets , 2015, Expert review of neurotherapeutics.

[33]  Zhendong Niu,et al.  Different patterns and development characteristics of processing written logographic characters and alphabetic words: An ALE meta‐analysis , 2014, Human brain mapping.

[34]  Byron Bernal,et al.  Participation of the insula in language revisited: A meta-analytic connectivity study , 2014, Journal of Neurolinguistics.

[35]  Robert Desimone,et al.  Connectional subdivision of the claustrum: two visuotopic subdivisions in the macaque , 2014, Front. Syst. Neurosci..

[36]  Carlo Caltagirone,et al.  Something to talk about: Enhancement of linguistic cohesion through tdCS in chronic non fluent aphasia , 2014, Neuropsychologia.

[37]  M. Tsolaki,et al.  Could language deficits really differentiate Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) from mild Alzheimer's disease? , 2013, Archives of gerontology and geriatrics.

[38]  Stavros J. Baloyannis,et al.  Synaptic alterations in the claustrum in Alzheimer'/INS;s disease: A Golgi and electron microscope study , 2013, Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

[39]  K. Grasby,et al.  The anterior claustrum and spatial reversal learning in rats , 2013, Brain Research.

[40]  D. Neary,et al.  Working memory, attention, and executive function in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia , 2012, Cortex.

[41]  Klaus P. Ebmeier,et al.  5-123I-A-85380 binding to the α4β2-nicotinic receptor in mild cognitive impairment , 2010, Neurobiology of Aging.

[42]  R. Wennberg,et al.  A phase I trial of deep brain stimulation of memory circuits in Alzheimer's disease , 2010, Annals of neurology.

[43]  M. Minzenberg,et al.  Meta-analysis of 41 functional neuroimaging studies of executive function in schizophrenia. , 2009, Archives of general psychiatry.

[44]  S. Brucki,et al.  Visuospatial function in early Alzheimer’s disease: Preliminary study , 2009, Dementia & neuropsychologia.

[45]  Sandra E. Black,et al.  Functional imaging studies of episodic memory in Alzheimer's disease: a quantitative meta-analysis , 2009, NeuroImage.

[46]  Andrew W. Ellis,et al.  The anatomical bases of semantic retrieval deficits in early Alzheimer's disease , 2008, Neuropsychologia.

[47]  Annalena Venneri,et al.  Neuroanatomical correlates of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. , 2008, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[48]  Masanori Kato,et al.  Correlation in Lewy pathology between the claustrum and visual areas in brains of dementia with Lewy bodies , 2007, Neuroscience Letters.

[49]  Edward T. Bullmore,et al.  Task-induced deactivations during successful paired associates learning: An effect of age but not Alzheimer's disease , 2006, NeuroImage.

[50]  H. Braak,et al.  Phases of Aβ-deposition in the human brain and its relevance for the development of AD , 2002, Neurology.

[51]  G. Paxinos,et al.  Distribution of angiotensin IV binding sites (AT4 receptor) in the human forebrain, midbrain and pons as visualised by in vitro receptor autoradiography , 2000, Journal of Chemical Neuroanatomy.

[52]  E. Masliah,et al.  Alpha‐synuclein in Lewy Body Disease and Alzheimer's Disease , 1999, Brain pathology.

[53]  Kuncheng Li,et al.  Differentially disrupted functional connectivity of the subregions of the amygdala in Alzheimer's disease. , 2016, Journal of X-ray science and technology.

[54]  V. Ramachandran,et al.  The claustrum : structural, functional, and clinical neuroscience , 2014 .

[55]  R. Castellani,et al.  Alzheimer disease. , 2010, Disease-a-month : DM.

[56]  H. Braak,et al.  Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes , 2004, Acta Neuropathologica.

[57]  J. Wegiel,et al.  Alzheimer's disease severely affects areas of the claustrum connected with the entorhinal cortex. , 1996, Journal fur Hirnforschung.